The Greek Concept of Nature

The term phusis has been defined as meaning simply `nature', but what did early Greek philosophers mean by the term? In this book, which is a revised English edition of the French original (published in 1992), Gerard Naddaf explores the historical origins and evolution of the Greek concept of phusis . Taking a linguistic approach to analysing the meaning of the word he argues that it refers to the whole process of birth to maturity and also to the origins and growth of the universe from beginning to end. This said, Naddaf examines the single occurrence of the term in Homer, and its use in Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days , Anaximander's Historia , and many other works from pre-Socratic philosophers such as Xenophanes, Pythagoras and Parmenides and Hippocratic medical texts. The second, and complementary volume, will focus on the sophists and sophistic movement.